Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has canceled former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s security detail and clearance — and directed the Pentagon’s acting inspector general to launch an investigation into whether the retired soldier should be demoted in rank, the Pentagon announced late Tuesday.

“The Secretary informed General Milley today that he is revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance as well,” said the Defense Department’s new spokesman John Ullyot.

Despite him retiring from the Army in September 2023, the Secret Service has continued to protect Milley due to Iranian threats of retaliation over his role in the drone strike ordered by President Trump in 2020 that killed Tehran’s Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

Trump last week stripped security details from his former national security adviser, John Bolton, and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who both had protection for the same reason as Milley.

Hegseth also ordered the Pentagon watchdog to conduct a review board to investigate whether Milley should be stripped of a star in his retirement based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during Trump’s first term, officials told Fox News, which first reported on Hegseth’s moves.

“The Secretary has also directed the DoD IG to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen. Milley’s conduct so that the Secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” Ullyot said.

Trump has been at odds with Milley since late in Trump’s first term in office, when the general made two calls to his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, behind the 45th president’s back.

“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Bob Woodward and Robert Costa quoted Milley as telling Li in their 2021 book “Peril.” “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”

Trump has said he was never told about the calls, and claimed on Truth Social at the time of Woodward and Costa’s revelation that Milley could be “tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President’s back and telling China that he would be giving them notification ‘of an attack.’ Can’t do that!”

Milley has repeatedly spoken out about Trump in public and private, calling him a “dumbass” and a “fascist” in Woodward’s book.

“Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership,” DoD chief of staff Joe Kasper said in a statement.

Hegseth’s actions come after a new portrait of Milley was quietly removed from its place in the Pentagon hallway housing the joint staff hours after Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20 — and just 10 days after the painting was unveiled and displayed.

A second portrait of Milley in the Marshall Corridor of the Pentagon honoring his service as chief of staff of the Army will also be removed from the building, according to Fox News.